Photo-ID laws for voters incite nasty legal battle

The Associated Press

Published: 01.24.2008

There's the poor, 32-year-old mother of seven who says it would cost her at least $50 to vote in person.

There's the 92-year-old woman who has voted for decades at the same polling place, but can't vote there again because she let her license to drive expire when her eyesight began to fail.

The two people live in Indiana, home of the country's most restrictive photo-identification voter law.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scrutinizing whether that statute violates the First and 14th amendments, in the most contentious legal battle over voting since the high court issued a bitterly divided decision eight years ago that stopped Florida's recount and handed the presidency to George W. Bush.

If the law is upheld, voting rights advocates fear it will encourage conservative lawmakers across the country to enact equally restrictive measures.

The high court's decision is expected in the summer, leaving time to affect November's general election.